"This is the first book to propose a cross-cultural model of the economy inspired by anthropology. Gudeman succeeds magnificently in weaving the results of decades of anthropology into an original synthesis." Caroline Humphrey, University of Cambridge "A stimulating rethinking of anthropology's contribution to our understanding of economics. Clear and original, this highly readable book will disturb many people's habits of thought as well as expand & enrich them. In it, Gudeman shows how the economy is embedded in human life and society, and how it builds on community and the commons, as much as on individuality and the market. A signal contribution." Fredrik Barth, University of Oslo and Boston University "Given the clarity of the prose and the accessibility of the ideas, this book would make for an excellent textbook for an economic anthropology class. Indeed, it is hard to think of a textbook that compares. But the book is much more than this. It is clearly intended as a liberating framework within which anthropologists and fieldworkers can rethink economic issues in a much broader way." The Australian Journal of Anthropology "This is an important work, synthesizing a substantial body of anthropological and economic thought into a coherent whole." James G. Carrier, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute